I kept hearing about this section of the PCT. I wanted
to get a close-up of Thomson from Ridge Lake. It didn't happen.
The clouds socked it in pretty fast. Red Mountain was very
accessable and scenic, however. Saw lots of folks on the trail.

Like most 2nd class with me, this looks harder from the bottom than it does from the top. Slope was bare and there is loose rock everywhere, but even with a fairly large group i ws surprised there were no releases of note.

I got to the top of the ridge on the trail, and scrambled to the summit staying more to the left. There are some moderate slabs, and multiple boot paths. On the descent, I followed a nice boot track staying to the left (south), and if you keep staying to the left, you come out on the main trail, cutting off a bit of distance.

I summited solo a few years ago via the standard southwest slope, but tried to traverse the mountain and work over to the PCT near the Kendall Catwalk -- BAD IDEA!!!!
I worked down the east slope, negotiated two or three class 3/4 steps of 5 to 10 feet, and then WHOA!!!, came to what I considered impassible ground without a rope -- the final cliff to the saddle between Red Mtn and the slope over to the PCT. I had read the Beckey description about some "unpleasant rock" at this point, but it looked to me a lot worse than "unpleasant".
I hiked up a bit to a gully on the SE of the mountain, and descended it (some more class 3) and ended up in a minor talus field followed by bushwhacking down a dry creek bed back to trail.
NOT a solo trip I would advise -- I remember thinking at one class 3 spot after a foothold gave way and sliding down 5-10 feet to a hard landing: "Oh great, this would be a spot where, if I got hurt my body would NEVER be found!"

Climbed with Anette, Mark and Natasha. We all were at a wedding in Arlington the day before so we took advantage of the rest of the weekend to get this scramble in. Left the trailhead about 9 am and summitted in 4 hours. Enjoyable hike through the forest to the base. Need to be careful with your footing on this. It's Class 2/3 but very loose and a slip/fall would be very bad in some spots. Great views up top though. Rainier was huge and Thomson was very impressive from this side. Coming down was precarious is spots and we took the "Abandoned Trail" back which is just about the best "abandoned" trail I've ever been on. Graveled in spots and very nice. Better than most maintained trails. I would highly recommend taking it as it cuts off almost 3 miles from the whole trip. It would be the second left you can make from the trailhead (the first looks like it goes back to the parking lot). It joins up with the route to Red at a sign pointing the right way to go.

hiked up to red pass... couldn't resist. i don't think i'll do this one again until there is snow (and low avi danger!)... would not be fun to climb below another party on this rock. maybe i'm just bitching because i didn't get views of thompson?

Ron, Rich and I wanted to try this when it was snow-free. Normally we do this during the spring as part of the basic mountaineering class. After going off the Commonwealth Basin trail, there's a couple of good climber's paths up boulder and scree fields to the summit. Great views of Mt Thompson.

A mostly sunny Tuesday yielded very few people along the PCT and the Commenwealth Creek trails. No technical difficulties on the southwest slope. Made the round-trip in just over 4 hours. The views, as always, were excellent.

Climbed Red from Commonwealth Creek Trailhead today in about 1 hour and 45 minutes. Trail and then boot path all the way to the top. Then, from there, climbed off the steep, slabby SE face (yuck!) to get over to Kendall Peak via the East Ridge of Red. Beckey says minor scrambling on East Ridge. Ha ha! Guess he forgot about the featureless cliff at the low-point notch on the ridge. Both Kendall and Red offer great views--especially of Mt. Thomson.